THE CORRECT VISION DETERMINES AGRICULTURE'S FATE

High-tech agriculture - an inevitable trend

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu, Vice Chairman of Nghe An People's Committee, affirmed: In recent years the locality has laid out guidelines and policies to develop agriculture in the direction of commodity production and application of high-tech agriculture, organic agriculture. Nghe An has put up specialized production areas with advantageous key products with advantages associated with forming chain links to make an impact.

In general, enterprises, cooperatives, especially the majority of farmers in the area have consciously built and promoted their brands by actively improving designs and quality, and proceeding to intellectual property registration and traceability stamping. With the orientation from specialized agencies, participation with a high sense of responsibility from all relevant parties is a prerequisite to the significant improvement of the local agricultural industry.

Look at "Vinh orange" to witness these changes and it will all be clear. This is a signature trademark of Nghe An, but many factors (floating market, unscientific management, unsecured varieties and input materials, etc.) have led to a very worrying situation in which these precious assets will suffer loss without any prompt remedial measures.

In order to preserve and develop sustainably, there is now a need to "do it for real". Apart from the grower's awareness, extensive application of science and technology is required and served as effective leverage.

Changes occurred immediately after a short time. The orange growing acreage well applying agricultural production practices is increasingly being replicated. Several areas that can be mentioned include the 18 ha VietGAP orange area of Thanh Duc Agricultural Cooperative, 25 ha VietGAP orange area of Dinh Son Agricultural Cooperative, 40 ha model of Dong Thanh Cooperative, Yen Thanh district. The total VietGAP and GlobalGAP certified orange areas in the whole province are estimated to be over 150 ha, not large in terms of scale but it can be a catalyst for growers to confidently transition from normal commodity production to high-tech production.

Turning forest into gold

Through the survey, Nghe An plants over 15,000 ha of concentrated forest on average each year. The annual increase in planted forest areas has exceeded the forest capital degradation rate, thereby bringing actual economic benefits to the locals. In the field of investment funding, Nghe An mainly has their focus on "inviting" foreign direct investment (FDI). The locality also pays great attention to the fields of planting material forest, wood processing industry and technology transfer.

The achievements are evident, however they cannot completely hide the shortcomings and limitations that the Nghe An forestry sector is facing.

Natural forests are in decline, and encroachment on forest land remains complicated. On the other hand, forestry production is divided into many separate stages, resulting in low production and business efficiency. The forest product processing industry is basically fragmented with outdated technology, limited productivity and added value which causes a lack of income for people.

In order to meet the increasing demands, with contributions correspondent to the potential and in line with the goals of socio-economic development, national defense and security, the formulation of the "Strategy for sustainable forestry development in Nghe An in the 2020-2030 period, 2050 vision" poses as a crucial policy.

With the current state, in order to secure the demand on land, Nghe An determines the scenario of forest coverage at 58.5%, equivalent to increasing the total forest area to 964,846 ha.

Nghe An needs to well implement protection measures, zone out growing areas, and intensively afforest large timber trees. Focusing on increasing natural forest areas in mountainous districts and stabilizing the existing forest area in the midland and mountainous areas and the coastal plain are the top priorities.

In more detail, Nghe An will manage and protect 783,699 ha of natural forests and 21,213 ha of existing special-use plantations and protection forests. On the other hand, the province will focus on planting new forests to maintain the province's forested land area always stabilizing at 965,000 ha. Logging activities will remain moderate at 20,000 - 25,000 ha/year to serve the needs of raw materials for wood processing factories in the area.